


The Orb Weaver

by lockandkey



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alchemy, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Homunculi, Multiverse, Post-Canon, They/Them Pronouns for Envy (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:00:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24998719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lockandkey/pseuds/lockandkey
Summary: Edward Elric and crew find themselves pulled into another universe. The fabric between worlds is unstable due to the actions of FatherThey'll need to repair it - but to do so will require finding help from those they'd rather not meet again.The homunculi, born into a new world as humans, are ironically the people who could save existence as we know it.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	The Orb Weaver

**Author's Note:**

> Time for something entirely different! I've been writing for Chinese novels, Western novels, but lord knows FMA is one of my oldest loves.
> 
> This is set post canon events, but before Ed marries Winry, so it's... both canon compliant to some degree, and also canon divergent?  
> I'm not saying they wouldn't still get together, but this is definitely a gen story. 
> 
> Envy is non binary, still likes skirts. fight me loser.

“So, uh...what...exactly is that?" A befuddled man questioned those in his company.

"We were kind of hoping you'd be able to tell us that...."

_What_ it was an understatement - _Why_ it was, happened to be a more fitting question in this particular situation.  
Edward reached up to absentmindedly scratch at the growing in stubble on his chin; quite the itchy annoyance, but he was honestly just happy to have facial hair. So, he continued to let it grow without peril of the swift flick of a razor.

There happened to be a giant glowing _...thing_ in front of him and his companions, which apparently seemed to defy explanation. Numerous individuals of knowledge and prestige had been brought in for this purpose. They were set up inside a make-shift room within a military tent around said 'thing'. 

"Have you...tried poking it with a stick? Or some other sort of large object? Perhaps your ego, Colonel Mustang?"

A man sitting at the table cut his eyes at his former comrade. "That's Brigadier General Mustang to you, Peasant."

A strong arm wrapped around the Edward’s neck, half choking him, half hugging him. A happy voice accompanying a happy human popped in between the silent war the other two men were having.  
"Come on now, there's no need to fight! We're here to solve a mystery! We're to unite the lands, and if course…make sure my vacation is well spent. More over...I'm a prince, therefore more powerful than either of you can ever hope to be."

All eyes in the room were now focused, with annoyance from most and amusement from very few, onto the 'Prince'.

"...Right,” Ed said flatly. “Seriously though, have you tried anything...with…the Whatever?"

Edward forcefully shrugged off Ling Yao's arm, and turned his golden eyes back towards the aforementioned 'What.' In the back of his mind, he was more-so thinking about why on earth he decided meeting up with the King-To-Be(If He played His Cards Right) was such a great idea at the time.

Mustang's eyesight moved back to the glowing object, ignorant to the inner fit the young adult was having. Not that he ever really seemed to care about the inner workings of the Elric mind, as the man was stubborn as a horse. Pun very much intended.

The thing had appeared overnight in the middle of one of the newly established trade routes between the once again Ishvalan-owned land, and Xing country.  
It was fewer than 4 feet deep with no apparent front or back, and at least 10 feet high with contained glowing light emitting from all parts, the middle of which looked to be almost like reflective water and the sky all that the same time. Yet it was all held within an unearthly golden hue.

Mustang chuckled and brushed a hand through his slicked back hair, a style he'd never be completely used to. Supposedly it made him look more 'leader-like', according to Havoc. Granted, there was an equal chance of that man purposely making his dear leader look bad, as to ruin his chances with any ladies. Havoc seemingly took very little time to get over his little breach in trust after, 'Solaris.  
"You're honestly asking if we, the military, have refrained from fucking with something? You should know better than anyone, shouldn't you?"

A grim expression crossed Edward's face at Mustangs tone, but he said nothing and let the Brigadier General keep speaking.  
Mustang continued on to explain that a younger farmer had seen the object forming, but saw no one in the area that could have been the culprit. No witnesses had come forward besides them, no footprints or tracks. It simply appeared.

As Brigadier General, Mustang's duties were in Ishval; keeping the peace, creating new trade routes and areas for individuals going and coming from Xing. So, when this happen in a town not more than 30 miles away from his base, it was him who had gotten the order from Grunman to check it out.  
No human dared touch the thing, yet there was always a crowd of villagers and soldiers crowded around when they got around to testing it.   
The only thing they had really been able to work out from the giant golden object, that the locals had taken to calling the Sun Disk, was that anything that went in...didn't come back out.

At first the tests were nothing more than people tossing rocks into it, and checking systematically to see if anything came back out from either side and angle. Eventually the tests progressed to larger and larger objects, before it came the time and the call to test it on living beings.  
The Amsteris military had it's past well rooted in using living things as metaphorical kindling when it came to any sort of alchemical testing, but those days had gone with the passing of the last Fuhrer.  
Instead of keeping with the rather bloody and horrid history of the last regime, the new Fuhrer Grunman deemed to do away with all traces of the last. That just happened to fit in perfectly with their plans for testing the new anomaly.  
After the defeat of the Homunculi, the underground tunnels and passageways that once belonged to the Father, were now firmly in relatively capable human hands. 

The only problem being the pests; Chimera.

Sad, pathetic, violent, and supposed affronts to God; the Chimera still roamed the corridors like they had no idea their creator had long past. So, they were rounded up by the bravest of soldiers and put in cages. Alchemists such as General Armstrong, or Dr. Marcoh, were quite interested in trying to return the things to their previous bodies. This would prove quite beneficial to the human chimeras that were still walking the world, unthreatened by military interference due to their quite convincing connections.

However, the new Thing, (dubbed; Anomaly#56, by the Military and more affectionately, 'pain in the ass' to Mustang.) was more important to the new Fuhrer than the lives of a few left over chimeras from the sewers.  
So, 8 chimeras were shipped in, and 8 went into Anomaly#56. None came out.

"Wait, what? You put chimeras in that thing? Marcoh, did you know about this?" Edward whipped around, quick enough to have his hair smack firmly into the loitering Ling's royal nose.

Dr. Marcoh had been called, in addition to the former Fullmetal Alchemist, as another experienced scientific mind for consulting. His companions in the tent were all familiar faces to Edward, as they should be since a few of them saved his life. Another scarred faced individual, having the pleasure of both trying to kill a Edward and having saved his life.   
Another yet, was one of the most precious individuals in Edwards life. None other than his brother, Alphonse Elric himself. He'd just been spending the last few months traveling with Mei Chang, Heinkel, and Darius until recently meeting back up with Dr. Marcoh and the chimeras Dolcetto and Roa.

"He didn't know,” Alphonse said, looking disturbed by the news as well. “None of us did until we were told last weekend, Brother."  
Unfortunate circumstances aside, Alphonse still took a brief moment to exchange a knowing smile with his elder brother. It’d been awhile since they really had a chance to talk in depth, but it would have to wait. 

Edward had been back at 'home' rebuilding their old house, helping out at the Rockbells, and while the elder Elric would always be happy to help out...too much time spent in once place usually ended up with Edward going a bit stircrazy. That wasn't good for anyone.

Edward's lip twitched down again, regardless of Marcoh not having been involved in the Chimera testing. They all should have been brought in earlier, and the military should have known not to sacrifice the Chimera. For being new and improved, it felt like a lot of the same. 

"Okay," Ed began slowly as possible, with as much patience as he could muster up, "I volunteer myself to go into it."  
A resounding "No," filled the makeshift room in response.

Mustang hummed to himself, strumming his fingers along his dark blue military assigned pants before nodding. "I'm opposed as well, but I'm realistic enough to know that no mater what anyone says here, you're going to go charging in regardless."

All naysayers went silent, even Al frowned in frustrated agreement. Edward answered with just a cheeky grin on his face  
All others seemed bothered except Ling, who chuckled to himself. It wasn't like it would be the first time Edward had ended up in a fake realm with supposed 'no way out'. The prince had faith in his friend to bullshit his way out of anything, alchemy or not.

Roy Mustang rolled his eyes, standing and brushing off his uniform.  
"Here are my terms, former-fullmetal. You will be connected to an extremely strong rope, and you will have a radio and portable backpack phone on you at all times. Your signal to be pulled back slowly will be 3 rough tugs on said rope, provided you survive. Agreed?"

Edward stared blankly at Roy Mustang, a man he disliked and looked up to all at the same time. The truth of the matter was, Edward needed out of Risembol. He could tell Alphonse was picking up on his distress, but it wasn't something so easy as not being able to travel causing Edward Elric's unrest in life.  
Alchemy was his life for so long, being without it was almost like losing a child...or being handicapped. Ironic, since he’d gotten back his arm. He got along fine, and was able to do everything he used to be able to do...maybe with a bit more effort, but the pain of loss was far from gone.

So, he did what any man on the brink of a mental breakdown, in his early twenties would do. 

Something extremely stupid.

Without waiting for approval, or any of the procedures Mustang would have likely wanted to go over in length, Ed waved to the faces of his friends and family. Then thrust his hand into the so called Sun Disk without warning.

And that was all it took to set off a series of particularly unhelpful events.  
As soon as his hand hit gold, the color flashed to blue and exploded, before imploding back upon itself.

Then, it was gone.  
And then they were gone.  


  
"Mama, look there's a shiny thing on the TV!" A little girl tugged at the cloth of her mothers dress, frantically pointed to what simply had been white noise of the local news station in the background of their modestly sized apartment.  
The mother, turned to the screen and pushed a strand of hair out of her face, hand clenched on her daughters shoulders.

"Oh my…that is interesting isn't it, Lilith?"

_"This is Tori Matsukawa, reporting from downtown live! No more news yet on the strange object that appeared in the sky just minutes ago, but experts agree that it's very unlikely to be a prank- I...wait, there seems to be something...emerging from the- oh my god!"_

A small smile curled over dark lips. Well, it seemed this world wasn’t so mundane after.

  
  
Meeting after meeting, order after order, annoyance after annoyance. Life was simply too much trouble sometimes, thought a newly promoted CEO.  
People were aggravating on a daily regular basis, and became more so when they were sniveling under you for approval. Leadership, he remembered, was not without its disadvantages.

He had retreated to his office not more than 10 minutes ago, and his phone line was already buzzing angrily as he felt. But, that would have to wait, he mused to himself. Reaching for his remote control, he turned to the news, hoping for some update on the latest information on the D Corp collapse. He had clients that depended on the outcome of the following meeting regarding the merger sure to come.  
But, tonight seemed to be a bit of something special.

_"This is Crispin Shang, reporting for Channel 10 News. Breaking news, something seems to be coming out of the object that appeared in the downtown Metro area. I repeat, this is NOT a joke. We've gotten word from the Chief of Police that all individuals need to STAY inside, until this situation is handled by the proper authorities. Do not panic!-"_

A deep chuckle rumbled out of his chest. How exciting. Telling humans to not panic in the face of the unknown was like telling water to not be wet.  


  
"Oh, come _on_!" Complained a man, with his arms hanging threw the steely bars of the local police department.

"If the city is really in a state of emergency, then aren't you fine sirs and…very fine madams, better suited out there? With the general populous? Rather than here, with me and few drunkards?"  
He queried onwards, hoping sooner or later to hit paydirt, rather than a billyclub to the face. He had been known to charm even the hardest of hearts in the past, and in a situation like this...could they really risk public safety just to keep their eyes on him, rather than the streets?

The nearest cop eyed him wearily behind his glasses, before looking back at the wall mounted LCD television screen.

_"The team here at Local Channel 2 has just received more breaking news on the ongoing situation in the downtown metro area. This is Willow Savarez-Kimbo reporting from our news helicopter. While we can't see the object that came out of the first anomaly, which has since vanished, we now have new information that more anomalies have been sighted in the following areas-"_

The incarcerated individual glanced upwards with a growing smile when he heard the telltale sound of footfall coming towards him.

"I'm only letting you go in case this freaky situation turns freakier…and you need to rush home to be with family or something." The cop said uniformly, with a grimace on his handsome face. The petty criminal sent him a sharp grin in return as the jailcell lock was opened.

I haven't had any family for a long time, he thought to himself...but he needn't tell this gentleman that. He looked like the family type anyway.

  
  
A teenager flopped down onto a floor pillow in front of a short table, mildly annoyed that their Baba had to be so tied to the olden ways. What was wrong with a nice soft sofa? This crimped their style, and more importantly was hard as hell to sit comfortably in a miniskirt.   
Not that they cared, sitting in a rather unflattering manner in their school uniform, with spread legs. If anyone tried to look, they'd kick the idiot in the nose. 

Violet eyes flickered down to the table in front of them, and more importantly to the nearly empty bowl on top of it.  
Frowning, they yelled out to the other side of the house. "BABA, WE'RE ALMOST OUT OF TANERGINES."

Not entirely caring if their grandmother answered or not, the teenager grasped for the remote next to the bowl of assorted fruits, and hit the 'on' button.  
 _"- Our on going coverage of this very important emergency to the country, continues now with more exclusive unseen footage. We now have video of one of the creatures that emerged from the 3rd Anomaly. Prepare yourself, for this may change everything you believe-"_

The teen stared at the screen slack jawed as the images moved across the television in the corner. Their grandmother walked into the room, and replied with a cold tone. "Then why don't you go get some more? Are your legs broken? I pay you good money, too good for the amount of work you do around here-...what on earth are you watching?"

Blinking repeatedly as though trying to make sure what they were seeing was in fact reality, ignoring the cold feeling of dread washing over their body, the teenager responded quite hollowly.  
"...That's a chimera..."

  
  
Edward attempted looked around, in what was utter darkness. There was no point in attempting to use his eyes, yet…he felt like there was something else-  
Voices muttered to life around him, some whispers, some grunts.

"Hey, Fullmetal, are you there?"

He turned in the direction the voice had come, a voice most certainly belonging to Roy Mustang.  
"Yeah," the blonde croaked out, throat dry and strained while still trying to process that could have possibly happened. "Head count, anyone?"

"I'm here!" Called Ling's voice from far too close for personal comfort, and a quieter 'me too' was heard from what must have been the constant shadow, Lan Fan.

"I'm here too, brother." Came a voice from another few feet off, before it was heard speaking softly to someone else.  
Edward grinned to himself, he knew that no matter the situation, it’d be a lot easier to handle with this group of people.

After a rallying of voices, one after the other, they realized their group consisted of; the Elric Brothers, Mustang and Hawkeye, the Xingese trio, Dr. Marcoh, the 4 chimera men, plus Scar.  
Quite the strange little group by itself, until another voice, a smaller voice piped up.

"I'm here as well, and I'm rather confused as to why."  
And then, the room flooded with white...yet the change in lighting did no harm to the eyes. Like it wasn't actual light, or they weren't truly physically here. Edward spun to where he had heard the smallest of the voices that responded. He open and closed his mouth a few times, before questioning.

" _Selim?_ "

The others were all there when the Sun Disk burst, but Edward was fairly certain there was no way in hell Selim had been there. And there was that little annoying voice in the back of his head, saying ' _be on guard, idiot!_ ' that sounded suspiciously like his former teacher.  
But surely enough, standing no more than 7 feet off was the unmistakable Selim Bradley. Looking much the same as when Edward had fought the homunculus Pride all those years ago. Except, this time, he had the incomplete oroborus tattoo displayed on his forehead.

"Actually, it's Pride." The only living homunculus responded looking a bit bored, glancing around the new wall-less white expanse of a room they were currently occupying.

Edwards jaw clenched with realization that, that voice in his head had been spot on, "How long-"

"Long enough. I did quite honestly have amnesia, but it didn't last long. Don't worry, I have no intentions of doing any harm to anyone...I'm content in my life…with my mother." Pride was older than all of them, yet looked for all the world like the 8 year old looked he appeared to be. He looked just as confused as the rest of them, which didn't bode well. 

Edward took a few striding steps towards the boy. "For all we know right now, you're behind all of this. You were NOT there when that Sun Disk imploded!"   
But Ed knew it was unlikely that the homunculus could have created something so powerful, when he was running on empty in regards to philosophers stone.

"Oh, Edward Elric, trust Me, he's not responsible. In fact, you need him in order to get back home."  
It was a wispy voice, like a million people whispering in tandem, all in the same tone. One Edward Elric unfortunately recognized.

The Doorway of Truth materialized in front of the company of misfits...and suddenly, Truth...God, whatever you wanted to call it, stood before them.  
In front of all of them, because it had split into a thousand perfect copies. Eyeless eyes, lighting up with mirth, a vile grin spread across it's faces.

"How...To get here we...We never performed human transmutation!" Alphonse piped up, looking more distraught than anyone. He had a reason to be; after all, this place was all too familiar to the younger brother.

"No, you ended up here because you went into a gap between worlds."

Truth tilted it's heads, all thousand of them. As if asking if anyone wanted to cut in there and question it more.  
"What you've seen, when you saw Me is only your world. Your universe even, is too large for you poor things to ever take in. Your heads would explode and it would be quite mess for me to clean up...Now, obviously I can't show you everything...for the...aforementioned head exploding reasons...But I can tell you."

Truth's mouth shut, and they seemed to be considering something for a moment,  
"There is...a what you might call fabric, between your universe and others. However, they are all one in the same, as well as they are different. However, since the little stunt Mr. Homunculus pulled a few of your years back…the fabric has been damaged. It's possible to restore it, using the same energy that made up that creature whom you called Father."

"What was he anyway? Where did he come from? The Father, that is." Ling spoke, all cheerfulness drained from his voice. Ling had lost Greed during that fight, which had been like losing a brother. Or even closer than that, given Ling had many brothers…and none of them meant near as much as Greed had.

Truth's gaze, if it had eyes, turned to Pride. "Care to answer that, little homunculus?"

Pride looked uncertain at the sudden pressure, already violently aware that Hawkeye had silently pulled her weapon and was aiming it directly at his temple.  
"I have no idea. Father never said anything besides that it was supposedly, 'beyond the Door of Truth.'" He spoke uncertainly, shifting his position from one small foot to the other.

Truth's grin grew larger. "And he was correct in that. What he was, was ...in fact, the fabric. He was part of the stuff that keeps the universes together and in check. But he escaped, and thought that by obtaining me, he could control all of the universes. Which would have never worked, by the way. One worlds power is not nearly enough to control me, nor would it be enough to control all of us, or our doorways."

Truth chuckled at the horror spreading across their faces. Edward’s mind was reeling. There were multiple universes? Not just that, but it sounded as though Truth was implying there were multiple of it? Besides the thousand something standing before him, that was.

"No, Edward Elric. Just like the universes themselves...I am but of one part, however I am all the same, and of one being. All is one, and one is all and all that...And yes, I can read all of your minds, so nothing dirty alright?" And with that, the thousand of beings, slide seamlessly into one Truth, standing before their group. “Get it?”

Somewhere in the background, Edward heard Darius mutter a quiet, ' _why are you blushing_?' to a spluttering Marcoh.

"Now, soon, you will be ripped from my grasp, and the break in the fabric will lead you into another world. Listen closely, I've brought Pride here for one very specific reason. The homunculi contained part of their father’s being in their own bodies. The only way to save all of the universes from completely unraveling is to bring together all seven. I have no way of controlling that world, and the me of their door has no way of controlling this...otherwise i'd simply do it myself."

"But they're dead. All of the Homunculi besides Pride are dead..." Muttered Mustang to Edward's right. He seemed less pleased than one would usually be over the deaths of inhuman monsters. It was likely he was thinking about the opportunity to kill Envy himself, being taken away from his grasp.

Truth's grin grew so large it literally took up the majority of all of its face.  
"In this world, yes; in the world you'll be going to...not quite. And, as a bonus...they're all very much human. However, they still contain the essence of their father, regardless of their human bodies. So, I'd like to make a very strict Do Not Kill, policy. In return, if you are able to find any other individuals who may be not of this world, but of theirs…I may allow them to return with you."

Truth vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but it's voice was heard as a powerful sonic boom.  
 _ **"But once and only once, you bring together ALL of the Seven!"**_

Then, in a blink of an eye, they vanished from that room. Their bodies felt as though they were being ripped apart and rearranged, a feeling Edward was unfortunately all too familiar with.  
And then, all parts of their odd little group tumbled onto earth.  
  
  



End file.
